[WikiEN-l] Linking Dates

[Carcharoth]

On Fri, Apr 30, 2010 at 1:38 PM, Charles Matthews
<charles.r.matthews at ntlworld.com> wrote:
> Marc Riddell wrote:
>
>> I still do
>> not understand fully much of the decision-making process that goes into
>> matters such as deciding on a specific format policy. But what I do see
>> throughout the encyclopedia is an arbitrariness in form and structure that
>> greatly detracts from the professionalism of the Project. A reader is coming
>> to the encyclopedia looking for information on a particular subject. That
>> information should be presented in a consistent, reliable, familiar form.
>> This form becomes the "signature" of the encyclopedia. As the Wikipedia
>> Project matures, it is important that the decision-making processes
>> regarding such basic issues as its very form and structure mature as well.
>>
>>
> So you need to be talking to someone like [[User:Tony1]], an advocate of
> said type of "professionalism". But of course there is more to be said
> here.
>
> Naturally since most editors are "amateurs", in all the senses (unpaid,
> doing it for the love of it, and people with an appreciation of the
> site), anything that happens to the Manual of Style ought to be
> compatible with retaining such amateurism (in a good sense). Note that
> very complex sets of rules for formatting do add a barrier to entry; as
> your example shows, it may not be so easy to appreciate the current
> state of the MoS as compatible with "you may edit right now".
>
> In other words, and this has played out on the site, it is not true that
> the advocates of a "professional approach" have all the answers. It is
> rather easier to effect changes to the Manual, than to ensure that the
> consensus about what a Manual page should contain translates into a
> shared understanding across the whole community. In fact the assumption
> that it does would rest on either of two assumptions: people are paid
> and so have a direct stake in following an imposed "house style", or the
> community is small enough so that everyone can track the debates that
> will affect them.

Is this an old thread or a new one that I missed? I'd like to read the
rest of the thread if it is still available.

Carcharoth